Despite decreased energy prices, the Saudi oil company Aramco said on Sunday that it made $121 billion in profit last year, which was less than its record of $202 billion.
According to the Associated Press, despite members of the OPEC+ coalition continuing to reduce their production in an effort to raise global oil prices, Aramco’s results still represented the company’s second-highest-ever performance.
Meanwhile, lesser performance also puts pressure on the monarchy as it launches a huge development initiative to wean itself off oil money under the leadership of its confident crown prince.
Aramco had reported a $161bn profit in 2022, likely the largest ever reported by a publicly traded company.
“The decrease mainly reflects the impact of lower crude oil prices and lower volumes sold, and weakening refining and chemicals margins,” the company said in its filing to the Tadawul stock market.
“Our resilience and agility contributed to healthy cash flows and high levels of profitability, despite a backdrop of economic headwinds,” said Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, in a statement.
According to reports, Aramco increased its dividend payments to shareholders to nearly $31 billion in the fourth quarter, despite them being lower this year. To discuss its findings, the giant energy company had scheduled a conference call for Monday. Aramco recorded $440 billion in total revenue in 2023, a decrease from $535 billion in 2022.
Aramco also known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., put its output at 12.8 million barrels of oil a day. The company has been ordered by the Saudi government to keep its production there despite earlier plans to increase output.
Leading member of OPEC, Saudi Arabia, has formed alliances with Russia and other non-member nations in an effort to limit output and raise world oil prices. On Sunday, the benchmark price of Brent crude fell below $82 per barrel.
Aramco has a market value of $2tn, making it the world’s fourth most valuable firm, behind Apple, Microsoft and NVIDIA respectively. Aramco stock traded slightly up on the Tadawul at $8.64.
Saudi Arabia is among the most affordable countries in the world to extract crude oil due to its abundant oil resources, which are situated near the country’s surface.
Using the money from oil sales, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman intends to gradually get the country off of oil sales. Examples of this include his $500 billion futuristic desert city, Neom, and other projects.
Prince Mohammed transferred another eight per cent of Aramco shares to the country’s prominent sovereign wealth fund, worth over $160bn. The vast majority of the company remains held by the Al Saud royal family, with silver traded on the Tadawul stock market on Thursday
